Werewolf Records
One of the few current labels that seem to stand above the rest. My interest in this label began after I heard the debut albums of Goatmoon and Black Blood, two promising new bands that serve to solidify the fact that Finland is at the forefront of todays Black Metal scene. Since this interview, Werewolf Records has been busy releasing albums by acts from across Europe as well as a collection of unreleased material from the founders own band Satanic Warmaster. Since the interview is a year old I decided that it was time for it to finally be published. Short and to the point.

You seem to be quite busy lately with the first issue of Zabulus recently released, a new full length on the way from Satanic Warmaster, and now Werewolf Records launched with already three releases out. Tell me why you decided to start WWR and what the main goal or purpose of the label is.
Werewolf records was started as a sign of the true resistance inside the Black Metal scene among all these money-makers, opportunists, traitors and traitors who start their own labels to leech on our Black Art without deserving it! I want to spread total black metal / hate / fascist / torment propaganda, which is the TRUE FACE OF SATAN!
The bands on WWR manage to do something that most current bands fail at, that is that they create a great deal of atmosphere. Is this a quality that you look for when deciding what bands to release material from? Is there any type of criteria that WWR uses when choosing bands for the label? For instance, must all the bands share a common ideology or outlook on Black Metal?
I only deal with artists 100% devoted to their cause. A heart burning with a pure undefiled flame will always create magnificent art. All the bands I have released have a totally different approach towards Black Metal.
Thus far WWR has only released material on CD format. I know that there are plans to release the Goatmoon album on LP, which will be limited to 100 copies. Will the Black Blood and Dead Reptile Shrine albums receive the same treatment? I must ask the old question of how important you think vinyl is to Black Metal. Do you yourself have any preference when it comes to format? Also, do you not think the purpose of limited releases has been somewhat ruined as a result of things like eBay?
There is a plan for the Black Blood album to be out on vinyl too, but about D.R.S. nothing is certain yet. Format does not matter too much when it comes to the content of the recording, yet there are a lot of great possibilities in vinyl that no other formats have.
I don't give a shit if some idiot wants to spend hundreds on buying stuff from eBay.
I've read statements from you saying that Black Metal should not be viewed as simply a style of music (or something to this affect). I must say that I couldn't agree more, but could you please shed some more light on this? Was WWR created as a means to also combat the ills of Black Metal and purify the genre? Feel free to use this as a forum to discuss all that you see wrong with the current state of Black Metal and how WWR might correct this.
Black Metal is the reflection of the Luciferian light. Werewolf Records supports the destruction of the human minds of those who think Black Metal is a thing for spectators to analyze.
Judging by the photos of the bands WWR has released material from, and the WWR website itself I assume you place a great deal of emphasis on the aesthetic aspect of a band (corpse paint, candles, darkness, etc.). How much influence does a bands image have on you? Do you think that these images have become too common place within Black Metal and that there are some that are using them for all the wrong reasons?
Black Metal is a 100% aesthetical experience. Not music, not images, but everything. Thus everything is important.
That's all I've got, thanks for your time and good luck with all of your projects. Please close the interview by telling me what we shall expect from WWR in the future?
Next crimes: SATAN'S SIGN OF WAR (ger) CD, WODULF (gre) CD and more...
THE TRUE DARKNESS IS ALSO THE TRUE LIGHT.

http://werewolf.blackmetal.fi/

Xasthur Interview
I conducted this interview with Malefic of Xasthur in the summer of 2004 for what would be the first and thus far only issue of Bloodletting zine. At the time Xasthur was gaining a lot of attention from the more glossy metal magazines like Unrestrained!, Terrorizer, Metal Maniacs, etc. By the time the issue was published the interview was already several months old and it seemed that the attention given to Malefic was waning.
Since this interview Xasthur has only released two split albums, one with the Nortt and the other with Leviathan but the attention given to the band has grown exponentially. Malefic's collaboration and tour dates with Sunn 0))) has made him one of a number of token black metal names to drop amongst hipsters who see Black Metal as the next hip quirky genre to dabble in and his music is reaching a new audience.
Seeing as how this interview is nearly 2 years old and all of the original copies of Bloodletting are long gone I feel that it may be of interest to those who didn't get the chance to read it the first time around so here it is:
To begin with, you’ve been releasing an astounding number of releases lately. How have the reactions that you’ve received from the new material been? Do you find that you’re receiving more attention lately or have you been trying to stay out of the public eye?
The reactions have been okay, but on a couple re-releases, it seems some people don’t like some of the adjustments made here and there, like some keys added/removed, vocals lowered/removed, songs remixed etc. they can fuck themselves. When certain recordings were going to be re-released, I saw it as a second chance to do some things and add ideas that I didn’t think of or get the chance of doing the first time, so I was pleased with this, even if no one else was. As far as the new CD on Moribund (Telepathic With The Deceased), there has been some good feedback on this one, for the most part I’ve noticed. This is an album that sort of crept up on me, at first I thought it was okay, but the more I look back on it, listen to it, review it, the more that I am pleased with it! I am a nobody in the eye of the public, yet I am hatred in the eye, towards the eye of the public, but as far as both publicly and black metal is concerned, I have been trying to keep to myself for quite some time now, my roll in this ‘scene’ is to play music, black metal, and that’s all, not to have people knowing what I am doing/not doing with my life, my goals, who I’m dating, what kind of food I eat to exist etc. It’s not like my personal life is un-black metal or something to even talk about, to give a shit about, I have my own problems to deal with. I might just be a quiet person who has a hard time expressing how they feel, especially to quite a few people. Tabloids are for MTV, not black metal.
What has been influencing you lately both musically and otherwise? Is there anything now that has a strong influence on your music that wasn’t there in the past?
Most of the feelings and inspirations that have always been there are still there, with the addition of more frustration and claustrophobic feelings that having been adding up more and more over the last year or so. I feel as if I have the same kinds of enemies that any black metaler would have to inspire them. Musically, as far as some current bands I’ve been listening to lately that inspire/influence me, Drudkh, Tenebrae in Perpetuum, Nortt, Warloghe, Leviathan and a few others.
Regarding all of the attention you seem to be receiving lately do you think you will go the way of so many others and shy away from the public eye completely? Or will you continue to conduct interviews and interact with interested individuals as long as you are creating music?
There are certain ‘obligations’ I attend to concerning interviews through Moribund, other than that, and on the other hand, I have done enough interviews, I’ll probably avoid most because of this. Most interviews just seem like a contest or a game that I’m sick of playing, I don’t feel the need to have to constantly prove myself or advertise myself, I’ll have contact with people here and there, seems unavoidable, but I really don’t like talking about myself, and won’t. I can’t get along with people, or communicate with people, never could and this includes black metal people, I am equally disgusted with all kinds of people.
It seems that a great deal of attention is being paid to single member Californian black metal acts. Do you regard yourself as being part of this “trend”? Do you feel that any bands that should not be overlooked are, or vice versa, that some bands undeserved of attention are getting more paid to them?
I really haven’t any idea as to why there are so many one-person bands here in California, other than the possibility of some of them discovering that the people who want to play AS a band are complete idiots, flakes and rock stars more often than not, this IS California you know? What do you expect other than rock star mentality and California stereotypes crossing into black metal as well? So with this in mind, the only person you can count on is yourself and in a lot of cases, I believe it’s either become one-person band or no band at all. I think Draugar is one of the bands being overlooked, really dismal and agonizing black metal.
In regards to the amount of releases with the Xasthur name lately are you working towards a specific vision? If so what?
I’m not exactly sure, but I do know that its difficult stop recording new material, being stagnant in this department is very difficult for me. I’m interested in out-doing a previous release, because I am only temporarily satisfied with a new recording. Some recordings are spontaneous, and some are not. Visions of being blamed for someone’s death would be a goal, if not, then making music that can help a person’s life digress is something I would settle for too, be it a shrine to their own worthlessness. Sometimes I can see myself, my own subconscious more clearly and darkly through making music, so from time to time, some horrors that are real to me come out of me through playing black metal, but that’s hard to explain or be specific about, but this is the only vision I care about.
To me black metal and nature will always be directly linked. How do you feel about this take on black metal? Do you find yourself drawing any influences from nature or does humanity play a greater role on influencing your music?
I not only hate humans, but I think I would have to hate human nature more than anything, and if you were talking about nature as far as the outdoors, the forest, landscapes etc, I would probably like that kind of nature more than anything. Being in the woods feels far from human nature to me, these memories are one of several non-black metal (music) influences that I have.
I know that you’ve been asked about suicide before but have your thoughts or ideas on the subject changed at all? Is it something you are growing closer to or straying further from? What do you think of individuals in the black metal scene that have committed the act?
It’s something I would rather do impulsively rather than talk about or give a threat about, yet if things don’t get any better, it almost seems like it wouldn’t be able to be avoided, how can it not be done eventually when a person feels a certain way about life? How could we not when there’s nothing left inside anymore, nothing left to feel, dreaming of dreams that will only be shattered? I’m going to be honest, its something I’m putting off and would rather not do, there are a couple ways to change your life, one way is by… changing it, the other way is by ending it, it’s not really something to aspire to, it’s not really ‘fun’ or ‘kult’ because the feeling is darker than any words can possibly explain, yet in the back of my mind, it almost seems inevitable, maybe years from now. I respect the corpses of those who have taken their own life, I have some sort of empathy towards them, the ones who died by their own hand, a hell of a lot more than those who are alive.
What are your thoughts on playing live? Has it or do you think it will ever appeal to you? Do you feel that black metal is a genre that has no need for live performances?
I think that there are certain bands that go over well for playing live, but I think bands that are depressive or atmospheric don’t really have a reason to play live, it seems pointless. I’ll never play live though, I don’t need that kind of attention, or any for that matter.
Those are all the questions that I have for you. Thanks again for granting me this interview. Any final words or thoughts you’d like to end with?
I would like to say thanks for this interview, the questions were a little different than the usual. There’s a new full length CD called ‘To Violate the Oblivious’, available as of July, but I’ll call it a slash to the jugular of those who doubted me and/or whined about the operations of this ‘band’.